Quote Originally Posted by triplev123 View Post
Good idea but it seems to me that Kentucky was behind the times, even there.
That approach was already in place in numerous other places Dan, including here in Oz.
It's sometimes referred to as 'out of competition' testing & there is to my knowledge nothing stopping Stewards ordering any test on any horse and at any time, for anything.
Making any resultant charges stick...in terms of establishing intent is concerned however, that's another matter altogether.
If for example Stewards tested out of competition horses & they found micera or aranesp or whatever, drugs that obviously have no business being in a horse, then I'm sure they'd be able to jam them six ways from Sunday.
If an out of competition horse came up with a Bute or Opiate positive then they'd be on very shakey ground on the basis of it not having been presented to race.
They wouldn't put themselves in that position however, they are smarter than that.
I thought the key to the article Jamie, was that in fact, it was legislation not just the rules of the relevant racing authority.
That's how the charges "stick"

The article did not also mention which drugs they were legislating against.

Therefore, what's to say, in our own backyard, the legislation could be designed in a way that took into account that some therapeutic drugs did not come within the scope of the law?

The main things that I took from the action in Kentucky, is that it's the law of the land, can be actioned at any time, could be VERY transparent and the consequences of cheating can be life changing for anyone involved.

I'm not saying this is the be all and end all, just that there are some aspects that are worth considering if you want a system that eveyone understands and knows what is right within the law and what is not.